The Braves have added infielder Johan Camargo to the NLCS roster, the team announced. Camargo will replace Adam Duvall, who suffered an oblique injury in yesterday’s Game 1. While Duvall’s injury would likely have sidelined him anyway, his removal from the NLCS roster means he is officially ineligible to play in the World Series should the Braves advance.
Camargo has mostly played in the infield during his four-year career, though he does have a handful of appearances as a corner outfielder. Atlanta isn’t really hurting for outfield depth given the presence of Ronald Acuna, Marcell Ozuna, Nick Markakis, Cristian Pache and utilityman Charlie Culberson on the roster, plus third baseman Austin Riley can play left field in a pinch. With Camargo now adding to the infield depth, the Braves could be more apt to go to Culberson or Riley as a late-game sub.
Moreso than defensive concerns, replacing Duvall with Camargo is a significant hit to Atlanta’s lineup. Duvall hit .237/.301/.532 with 16 homers over 209 PA this season, while Camargo hasn’t hit well in either of the last two seasons. That said, the Braves have plenty of other bats to theoretically pick up the offensive slack, while it should be noted that Duvall had only a .443 OPS in 21 plate appearances during this postseason.
Not surprised. Camargo has more versatility than Inciarte.
By versatile, you mean he has any offense.
And can play the corner OF’s, 1st, SS and 3rd. Could probably play 2nd in a pinch.
I called Carmargo, but I was honestly hoping for Hech.
Thank god it wasn’t Ender! I was seriously fearing this. I kinda wish they would bring up a 3rd catcher cause I think flowers is better than a lot of our alternatives offensively. Of course, the bar is set low.
This is the best option given versatility. The next move needs to be sit Markakis and give Pache a shot. Some will say now isn’t the time to give an unproven rookie a chance in a high pressure situation, but Pache was on base twice yesterday before markakis even swung his bat. He’s also better defensively and can push Acuña to RF.
Experience and leadership. Nick has it. Be tough to justify right now to change that.
Allegedly. Notice it didn’t take much to sacrifice the defensive “upgrade” late.
Pache hasn’t seen game action in Center all year. When he did in August, he didn’t look great. It’s not a long term wart, but a short term reality.
black69, apparently you didn’t watch last night because Pache played center last night and looked fine.
I’d start Pache in centerfield and keep Panda and Camargo on the bench unless absolutely necessary.
I think it’s going one of two ways:
Riley at 3b, Markakis in LF, Pache in CF, and Acuna in RF.
Panda at 3b, Riley in LF, Acuna in CF, and Markakis in RF.
Pache looked supremely overmatched against Graterol, but did fine against Walker. I think he provides more than what Camargo would and by starting him, the Braves don’t have to switch around Riley. The only problem is if you pinch hit for him later in the game, you just lost your best all-around defense.
Edit: Just saw that the lineups were posted about 20 minutes ago and they’ve got Riley at 3b and Pache in CF. Good to see Riley move up, he’s streaky, but it’s not like Markakis is doing anything. Hopefully 8/9 can at least draw a couple of walks and turn it over for Acuna.
Everyone looked overmatched against Graterol to be fair
Those two did, hard to tell with Swanson because he swung at the first pitch. But Pache didn’t get close.
Inciarte doesn’t have a reasonable buyout until after next season, correct? Interested to see what happens with him, as he is very clearly finished in Atlanta. Might be worth just eating his money and releasing him if he is the 6th / 7th outfielder at this point.
Surely he’s playable for somebody, Could at least still be adequate as a platoon/defensive replacement guy, though his $8 mil salary is high…perhaps if Braves eat money, they can get something of some value for him.
That’s what I’m thinking. He just screams Royals pick up in my opinion, I just don’t know that anyone would be interested at that price knowing he can be bought out for $1.5 mil the following year.
The Braves would have to eat about 6-7 million and would only get a grade b lottery ticket at most.
Probably worth it considering Inciarte would be at least 2-3 injuries away from even cracking the roster in Atlanta.
Anyone else surprised Pablo is still on this roster? He was pretty awful in SF this year, not sure what he’s done to change himself for Atlanta
That post-season magic, I guess.
I’m fine with it. You take Panda out and who do you put in? Camargo? Contreras? Hech? Ender?
Contreras I could see if the Braves had two good catchers like the Dodgers, but they don’t. I don’t think the other guys have the potential upside that Panda has for this series.
All this hate on Panda. Look the Braves brought him in and all they’ve done has won. He seems well liked in the dugout so whatever he’s doing is working! And him playing last night at the end he made the play he was given with no issues so let it ride! Camargo hasn’t done anything the last 2 years so you can’t think he would automatically change back to Camargo of old!!
The fact that we’re debating Panda, Camargo and Enciarte shows the sad state of the Braves’ positional depth. And ideally, Markakis would be a bench player.